Eminence
by GiovanniSama
Summary: Pain retells the story of his life as he transcends from a war orphan that had to scrap to survive to the status of a "God" in the Ame no Kuni and the leader of the Akatsuki.
1. 1st Itami: Casualty of War

**Author's Notes: What it do all? I'm back again with another story and this fic will be dedicated to my favorite character from the Naruto universe, Pain. (Yes it's Pain according to the Data book) You guys are probably like wah?? But he's a villain. I've always been a fan of the villains of my favorite stories with my all time favorite fictional characters being Sephiroth (FF VII) followed by Virgil (DMC3) and Yami Malik (Yu-Gi-Oh).**

**Eminence will basically be his life story from the beginning of his pain and so on all told from his perspective in first person. I originally was going to name it **_**'Eminence of Pain'**_** but I later decided to just settle on Eminence since it would match the theme of **_**'ence' **_**words I set for my other stories Immanence and Ambivalence.**

**I decided to write this thanks to my boredom while I wait for my good friend SoulCry to finish proof reading the latest chapter of Vanish Without A Trace for me. Not to mention a lot of the fanfictions that are based on, or centered on Pain are either mainly Akatsuki fics, PainXSakura (Which I seriously do not understand – not saying I have anything against this of course.), one-shots, or comedic drabble. So I decided to throw my own lot in the mix.**

**Before we get started I would also like to thank everyone who read this fic and every one of my other ones. I never imagined that I would become this popular over the year. Thanks for all your constant support and reviews. Hopefully I can keep on entertaining you all with Eminence as well. **

**Eminence****  
**_A Requiem of Pain  
_1st Itami: Casualty of War

War, it is such a fickle and delirious term. For some, it brings about change, power, righteousness, and even enlightenment; but for the majority, the lesser of the world, the pawns on the chest board – it only brings about one thing and one thing only, **Pain**.

Life before the war was pleasant, simple, and stable. Everything I needed, my parents provided for me. There were the occasional sibling squabbles with my brothers but that was a common thing among families like ours. Despite the monotonous life I lead with my family, it was safe and peaceful. Not once did I have to worry about my next meal, nor the terrifying thought that someone would kill me because I was in the wrong place or had something they wanted.

I knew of the shinobi world but it was more like a distant façade that happened in a different part and time of the world. Like a real life television show you would watch, you knew it was real but it still felt staged. Some of my friends would pretend to be shinobi and run around play fighting one another yelling out random moves that they had just came up with on the top of their heads.

But I was never prepared to face the real thing, especially when said thing was glaring down at me with a kunai gripped tightly in his blood-drenched palms. The crimson fluid that dripped down his hands weren't the same that traveled through his ice cold veins, nor was it the liquid of his enemy but the blood of my family, my _**INNOCENT **_family who had nothing to do with this war at all!

It all started on a calm normal day. We were experiencing light showers which we would consider a sunny day compared to the other days we had groan used to over the many years. I had finally finished with my afternoon classes as I was heading home along with my imouto in tow. She went to the same academy as me and was just a year younger. She was the baby of the family and she wasn't ashamed to remind my two older brothers and me when something interfered with her getting her way.

"The sky is pretty today isn't onii-chan!" I said to me as she danced around in her little raincoat. Even if she was spoil rotten I still loved her dearly. She always took my side during my disputes with our brothers who always seemed to enjoy picking on me.

"Yeah it is… what do you want to do today?"

"Can we go to the park again?"

"Sure thing."

We would normally hang out for about an hour or two after school to burn time before our parents got off from work. We felt that it was easier to deal with our brothers when our parents were around to play the mediator. Otherwise, they would use me as their practice dummy for their fake _shinobi_ experiments.

On days like this the park would usual be crowded with kids our age and younger enjoying their time outside before the monsoon seasons returned.

"Nagato! Over here!" the sound a very familiar female's voice with long damp raven hair covering part of her face called to us as soon as we sat foot on the park grounds. It was my best friend Konan playing with several other kids from my class. In reality, she was my only _real _friend outside of my family. "And you brought Nigata with you again today too."

"Yo!" Nigata, my imouto, yelled as she waved at Konan.

"What are you guys playing?" I asked as I walked up to Konan.

"We're still trying to decide that. We're waiting for Yahiko to make his mind up. He won't let us play the usual games without complaining."

"I can't help it if I believe that we shouldn't do the same things all the time. It gets so lame repeating the same games."

Yahiko was another one of my friends but I couldn't really say we were close back then. We were more like associates, classmates. We got along because everyone in the class did; it was sort of like going with the flow of things. For some reason Yahiko always took on the leader role as if it was natural for him. I even found myself at times waiting for him to decide something before going on with what I had planned.

"Then hurry up and come up with a new game!" one of the other kids yelled.

"Oi! Give me a minute, kay?!" he yelled back.

"So what do you have plan for this weekend Nagato?" Konan asked as the two of us walked off giving the others some more time to banter Yahiko for his tardiness when it came to making up a new game.

"I don't really have any. I might help my oyaji redo the roof since it's starting to leak again."

"Don't ya brother's usual help him with that?"

"Yeah but he wants me to start helping him too. He said that this will teach me how to be a strong man when I grow older."

"I wonder who's hair would be longer when we're adults." She joked as she pulled on the tip of my hair that reached my shoulders. About the same length as her's.

The rain suddenly began to pick as Yahiko still contemplated his next great idea for a game that we all could play. I honestly could careless what he came up with as long as he hurried it up.

A loud thunderclap shook the ground a little as we all froze in our place. My imouto ran up to me clamping onto my arm as her body began to tremble.

"It's ok Nigata, it's just a storm." I told her, trying my best to play the idea aniki for her.

Another thunderclap struck again, this time even louder and violent that the first. The ground shook so hard that I could no longer hold my balance as I came toppling down to the ground bringing Nigata down with me.

As I lay there on the muddy ground I noticed one thing that caused me to feel a hint of fear. If it was suppose to be thundering this way then why in hell was their no major clouds in the sky besides the usual tiny rain clouds that appeared during these light showers.

As I tried to stand back up another thunderclap sounded off but this time it was followed by an explosion that felt like it was only several yards away from us.

That was when the sirens began to cry as a herd of people began to charge down the street in a fit of panic.

"What is going on?" Konan asked as she too began to fear the worst.

"I think we should run too." I said as I quickly swooped up Nigata and began to run, Konan followed after me. Just as we left the spot we were at the ground exploded taking several of the kids that were in the park with it. For a short instant, the rain took on the shade of a scarlet red as random body parts plummeted from the sky.

I covered Nigata's eyes making sure that she wouldn't have to witness such a horrific scene. I myself was fighting with all my strength to hold down my vomit that was pressing its way up my throat.

I glanced toward my right and noticed that Konan was rooted to the ground as her fear had finally got the best of her. I quickly ran up and nudged her shoulders.

"Snap out of it Konan! We need to get out of here!"

"W-w-what is going on?"

"I don't know but it'll be better if we escape first and ask questions later!" this time I pulled on her using more of my strength forcing her to get up. Just in time to barely dodge another explosion.

We joined the mass of people already running for their lives in the streets. It was hard to make out what exactly was going on with all the pandemonium that was happening everywhere.

"What is going on?!" I managed to ask a man who was running along side us.

"The war has spilled into the town."

'_The War?'_ I said to myself.

We knew about the war that was happening with the major countries and the adults at that time always warned us that since Ame no Kuni was boarding three of the countries that were participating full force in this war. But I am positive that not even they believed that the war would actually cross the border into our territory like this.

"I'm heading toward my house to see if my family's ok!" Konan suddenly called out as she took a left heading toward her place. I started to tell her to stay with us but I knew that she was also very worried about her own family just as much as I worried about mines.

This was the time that noticed that my hand was still covering Nigata's face. I slowly pulled my hand back and noticed that she was weeping greatly. I hugged her closer to my body trying my best to console her but that was a task all on it's own when I also needed someone to comfort me as well.

A barrage of kunai rained down in the center of the street piercing several civilians in the process right in front of us. I watched as a body toppled over right in front of us but I wasn't fast enough to dodge the body as I tripped over it falling face first to the ground. In the same motion, I watch as Nigata flew out of my arms and landed on the ground with a loud _thud_ followed by cry. I quickly crawled over the bloody body that I landed on over to her to make sure that she was ok. To say that I was relieved when I saw that she didn't take any major damage was a major understatement.

"Gomen Nigata!" I cried as I tried to lift her again, but that when I realized that what was on the surface didn't speak what was hidden on the back. As I picked her up I noticed the large pool of blood that was underneath her body and the large amount that continued to spill.

During the time I fell, she unfortunately had landed on a random kunai that pierced through her back.

I glanced up at her eyes and noticed that the color of life was already fading away from her once beautiful golden brown orbs. I felt my own eyes begin to burn as if someone had lit them on fire as blistering hot tears traveled down my cheeks. I collapsed to my knees since I could no longer withstand the amount of pain my heart had sustained in that one moment. I held back when some of my classmates were murdered by the explosion, even looked the other way when the people in front of me were getting mowed down by kunai, but there was no way I could fight it back anymore. At that point I no longer cared if I was killed. My imouto had just died thanks to my inability to control my balance in such a dire moment of her short life…

I felt the rain intensify to the point where it felt like it was literally pounding against my body with millions of fist. I began to punch the ground with all my might over and over until they were covered in my own blood as I wail into the sky as if it was the cause of my anguish.

"Get up kid!" an old man shouted as he pulled me off the ground with one arm and drug me along side him until I had regain my composure, at least enough to run. I glanced back to take one last look at Nigata's dead body but he jarred by my body forcing me to look forward.

"Trust me kid, it doesn't help if you keep looking."

"But…" I tried to speak but he stopped me.

"I know… she was close to you but what good is it if you die too? You think she'd be happy if she knew you just lied there waiting to be killed?" the man stated in a eerily calm voice that did not match our current environment.

I glanced up at the man for the first time and noticed all the scars that he had all over his body. Including the gruesome one that sat right over the left side of his face where his eye _should_ be.

"You're shinobi aren't you?"

"Ex-shinobi kid." he corrected.

"Why are they attacking us like this?"

"There is a Konoha camp stationed several miles outside of this city. Some of the Iwa-nin feel that this town would serve as a perfect base for their operation to take out their camp and move in deeper into Ame no Kuni. Their plan is to wipe out both the Konoha camp and close in on Amegakure at the same time.

"But why kill us?"

"To make sure that there isn't ant Konoha-nin or Ame-nin in this town at all."

"But…!"

"No more buts kid. This is a war after all. Not many shinobi care about what happens to people who have no affiliation with them. I know they didn't teach you this in school but shinobi are heartless killing machines. They kill whomever they are told to kill without any discretion…"

I glanced up at him one more time as the rain continued to hammer down on us. I used my hand to wipe away most of the liquid from my face as I decided to only look forward. I didn't know who this man was but I owed him a lot.

"Where ya heading kid?" he asked as he finally let me loose from his tight grip. I guessed he felt that I was past the point of being suicidal.

"Home, it's just around the corner over here." I said not looking up at him.

"Ok kid, be safe."

I took off running toward my home. I didn't want to explain to my kaa-san about Nigata but I knew I would have to regardless. I was still finding it hard to come to terms with the truth, even though I was a witness and a possible cause of her demise.

Several crashes of thunder sounded off as I opened the front door of my home. It was quiet, to quiet for my liking. But there was also the possibility of none of them being home since all of them had things to do during this time of the day. I started to call out to them but I used my better judgment to remain silent just incase there was someone here who wasn't suppose to be.

The silence began to play mind games with me, as every noise I made was twice as loud as it would normally be. I slowly walked into living room as I heard a loud _squish _noise under my feet that felt like someone had spilled a large pitcher of water. I glanced down receiving the second fright of my life, mere minutes apart from the original. I stood in a puddle of blood that had soak through the wooden floor. To the right of the puddle, a severed hand with a ring on it – the same ring my okaa-san always wore.

My stomach and throat had finally surpassed their limits. I plummeted to my knees and released my vomit as the searing hot fluids burnt my throat as it pushed its way to the floor. After a few more minutes of repeating this I began to whimper, not just from the pain but also at the potential lost of my own okaa-san.

A cold, chilly feeling streaked through my spine as I felt someone was standing behind me. I slowly turned around with both my eyes puffy from my tears to the sight of a rough and stout man wielding a kunai in his right hand that was soaked with blood.

Our eyes met at the same time, his pale auburn orbs told me everything, I already knew the rest of my family was dead and I was surely next. My body didn't move, it was almost like my body was welcoming him, beckoning for him to finish off what he started. My mind was completely blank, I heard people during these times saw images of their lives flash before them but I saw nothing. My eyes were still locked in its staring contest with my families' killer. My heartbeat matched the pace of the rain as it continued to pound down on the roof. I finally forced my body to close my eyes so I wouldn't have to witness my own death but I heard something else instead.

A loud **thud **on the floor caused me to force them back open. The Iwa-nin now laid faced down on the ground with a large steak knife jabbed dead in the center of his back. I glanced up to see the same scared man from before hovering over us.

"What did I tell you about giving up on your life so soon kid." He scolded as he lifted me up with one hand like before.

"W-w-why?" I forced out as my body began to shake uncontrollable from the shock.

"I figured I would check up on you to make sure these bastards weren't already here." I nonchalantly glanced over at the body of my parents that were in the bedroom and sighed. "To bad I didn't make it here in time." He stated as he followed my line of sight.

"They were already dead before I got here." I said almost in a whisper as silent tears streaked down my pale cheeks.

"I see… lets get out here." He stated in a deep tone that lack any emotion at all. I couldn't tell if he felt sorry for me or not. I didn't even know if I should be grateful that he actually saved my life again. I quietly began to weigh the options of living a life without my family or pass on and be with them in the afterlife as we slowly walk through the streets that were littered with dead bodies on civilian and shinobi alike. Apparently some of the citizens decided to fight back extending their lives for a few minutes before more shinobi appeared to kill them off.

The pitter-patter sounds of a dozen footsteps slamming against the pavement woke me from my trance as I glanced up.

"Nagato!!" I heard a familiar voice cry out to me. I turned to the direction to see Konan dash toward me, her eyes bloodshot from tears more likely. It seemed that I wasn't the only one to suffer the lost of my family at the hands of this attack.

She literally tackled me as we both collided with the ground. The sounds of her sobs overshadowed the pain my back felt as I unconsciously wrapped my arms around her. I was the last person who was in the mood to comfort others but for some reason I just couldn't help it. For a second I felt more sorry for her than for my own misfortunes.

"Where's Nigata?" she asked as she pulled her head up. I tilted my head to the right so I wouldn't have to look at her face. I didn't think I would be able to take the pain if I saw the reaction of someone else who knew her. "… And your family?" she continued. I remained silent, as she quickly understood what happened, I didn't really have to say anything. "Gomen nasai Nagato!" she cried as she once again buried her head into the chest.

"And I just got the boy to stop crying…" the man sighed out loud as he stared down at us.

"Who is he?" Konan asked as she stared up at him.

"He saved my life." I quietly said, my voice on the verge of failing me.

"Arigatou." She said to him. He nodded back to her with a grim smile on his face.

"It to early to thank me yet, we still need to evacuate this village. It is already pretty much a lost cause to try to stay here." He said before helping us up.

As we returned to the streets I tried my hardest not to look at all of the dead bodies that rested on the ground. The once promising buildings that told over a thousand stories now lay in ruins. I don't know rather it was the constant patter of the rain against the ground or the fact that my nerves could no longer handle anymore shock but everything just seemed to fade out around me.

That was until a familiar shout was heard to the left of me. We quickly peeked over to see Yahiko being chased by an Iwa-nin. The look on his face wasn't the same mask that Konan and me were wearing but one of utmost anger and hatred. In one motion he picked up a rock and slung it behind him nailing the shinobi right in between his eyes.

In a flash, the man that was standing beside us was already over there. He landed a hard right to the shinobi's already injured head and followed with a left to his throat jamming his Adam's apple right through his windpipe. He then proceeded to place both of his large hands on the shinobi's head and yanked it sideways snapping his neck. The shinobi's body fell limp to the ground like a doll that was dropped. Yahiko stared up at the man with a frighten look on his face.

"Don't worry kid, I'm on your side. I have your friends with me too." he said as he pointed behind him over to us.

Even though I had already seen the man in action, it was still hard to believe that someone could actually be _that _strong.

"Who are you?" Yahiko asked.

"Just call me Akai." He said with his emotionless mask still on his face.

"Why are you helping us so much?" Konan asked as she walked up to him.

"I like I told the kid over there—" he nodded over at me "—I am an ex-shinobi. I have committed the same heinous sins that these men have done over my long career. This is my way of settling the demons that have been tearing at my soul." He stated as he began to walk ahead of us.

I didn't know what to say to that or what to think. It was easy to tell what Yahiko thought though. His eyes told me that he was beginning to look up to this man as a role model. I think Konan was more or less going through the same feelings as me.

The rest of the walk was uneventful, despite the amount of carnage that painted the landscape. He had finally reached the village's gate when Akai stopped dead in his tracks and looked at me.

"Kid." He spoke as he kneeled down so we could meet eye to eye. "Here is the key to my shack. It's several miles outside the village. This key is the only way you can find it because it's very well hidden from intruder's eyes so you and your friends will be safe."

"What about you?" Konan asked.

"I have a few things I need to take care of before I head out in that direction. I want all of you to run as fast as you can ok?" The look on Konan's face showed just how worried she was. He smirked a little as he shook his head. "Don't worry about an old man like myself. I know exactly where my shack is so I'll will see you guys in a jiffy." He cracked a wide grin this time actually allowing us to see some real emotion.

"Come on, let's go." Yahiko said as he touched my shoulder. I took one last look at Akai before I started running along with the other two. At that time I knew exactly why he wanted us to go alone and I think Konan and Yahiko knew as well. We all knew that this would be the last time we would ever see Akai.

---

**Closing Author's Notes: This will probably be the hardest fic for me to write and the easiest at the same time. The reason I say this is because of the minimum amount of information I have at my disposal about his past. But this also allows me to fill in what I believe happened back then almost giving me an open world. **

**I also realize that the manga is getting closer to revealing some of the major secrets about Pain and his powers. I will try my best to make the right edits to fit this information as it comes without actually ruining the story I have planned. Thanks again for reading!**


	2. 2nd Itami: Soulless Eyes

**Author's Note: What it do again. I'm surprise that I was able to push out an update for this before the New Year. I was hoping to release this a couple of days ago but having my flight postponed several times and the overnight layover sort of put a hold on such things. **

**Well thanks to all who have decided to read this along with my other stories and hope to read more reviews from you.**

**Eminence****  
**_A Requiem of Pain  
_2nd Itami: Soulless Eyes

That day, it rain as if there was no tomorrow to look forward to. The dour grey clouds acted as the mirrors of our depression. Yahiko was the only one in full spirit – well… full spirit compared to Konan and me that is. Every since we entered the shack of the old man, Konan had pulled up a chair close to the door and began to watch it like a sick puppy waiting for her master to return. We all knew the reason for his tardiness but it seemed that it had affected her the most.

"Ya know he's not coming back." Yahiko said to her speaking the obvious.

"But he could be lost…" she answered without even looking in his direction.

"For three days?" he questioned in a sarcastic tone as he raided the freezer for the third time in the last five minutes as if food would magically appeared in his face.

"He said that you couldn't find it without that key he gave Nagato." she stated in a straight-faced tone.

"And he also said that he could find it without the key _too_…" Yahiko spat out as his agitation toward Konan was beginning to show.

"But…"

"Get over it! We are most likely the only ones left!" He yelled this time cutting her off.

The room grew silent as the ever-pressing disheartening fact of our bleak reality began to bulldoze its way back into our minds. Thunder struck breaking the silence as Konan finally came to terms with the truth and began to quietly sob.

"Uh…I'm sorry Konan…" Yahiko said in a caring tone as he finally realized just how harsh he was being toward her and indirectly to me as well.

Even though I wasn't open about it like Konan, I too was hoping that Akai-san would walk right through that door with a large all-knowing grin on his face as if it was saying _' I told ya I'll make it.'_ He was our last hope to survive this hellhole that use to be our homes. We didn't have any more food and there was no telling how long it would be until those Iwa-nin vacated the territory, our territory…

"Look guys… we can't sit around here doing nothing until we die. We have to do something!" he yelled trying to fire us up for some unknown reason.

"And what do you have planned then Yahiko?! Do you want us to go out there and have them kill us or _worst_?!"

Yahiko was going to say something but he froze for a second. It seemed that he didn't even know where to go from here. Not that I blamed him though, who would actually be prepared for something like this.

"Any suggestion Nagato?" Yahiko asked as he turned to me with a staid expression. I only shook my head as I left the room. "Where are ya going now Nagato?" he questioned.

The severe turn in events had left me quiet and unsociable. I no longer felt like communicating with anyone, even to the closest and possibly the only people I had left in the world. My eyes began to burn, as it became a task just to withhold the tears that were thrashing there way through.

"Don't tell me you're crying too?! Ya a guy, act like one!" Nagato yelled as he caught up to me.

"Leave him alone Yahiko. Not everyone can be as optimistic as _you_." Konan stated coming to my rescue.

Yahiko placed his hand on my shoulder but I shrugged it off. I wasn't in the mood for this anymore.

"I'm going to lay down for a while. I'll be ok." I stated in a solemn tone. I knew it wasn't much but it was enough to get him to leave me alone for a short time frame.

Conveniently, the shack was a lot larger than all of us had original thought it would have been. It even had two bedrooms. Yahiko and me shared the larger room giving Konan her right to privacy but from time to time she would come and sleep with us due to her fear of our hideout being discovered. Yeah… none of us got much sleep during those times.

The shack had an old beige sofa that took up most of the room in the living room. It had several holes in it but it still was astonishingly comfortable despite its appearance. There was a wooden table in the kitchen with four matching chairs. They looked like they were the only new things this old shack had ever seen. The counter was beige like the couch and bore many scratches and deep cuts; no doubt the signs of the old man struggles at becoming a decent cook as a retired shinobi. The kitchen also housed a large refrigerator that stood double the height of me. But when we first opened it, it was about as bare as our stomachs were later that night.

The shack also gave off a very stale and damp smell thanks to the many leaks from the ceiling that had soaked up the black carpet. At first it was hassle to deal with but we later became so use to it that we forgot all about it.

I heard the door open causing me to snap out of my poignant miserable like trance of staring at the ceiling.

"You ok Nagato?" Konan asked as she sat down on my futon beside me. I glanced up at her before closing my eyes. Just thinking about our situation just made my eyes burn with anger and pain…

"What about you?" I forced out trying to get things off of me.

"I'll be fine... even though Yahiko was mean for yelling at me like that, he was right and I know it. I can't keep punishing myself like this. It isn't healthy at all…"

"And _this_ is?" I asked with sarcasm dripping off my voice. She gave me a very grim smile and shook her head.

"No… it isn't either. We have to do something…" she said as too began to glance up at the ceiling.

"He was right about that too huh?" I said as I turned over.

"I suppose…" she replied not looking in my direction.

"But… I don't really want to go back out there anymore…not after seeing what we saw. I mean I know we can't just stay here and die but I'm not ready to walk back out of there yet…" I stated trying to chase way the fleeting memories of Nigata's cold lifeless body in my arms.

"I know… we all don't want to go back out there Nagato… I'm sure not even Yahiko wants to do it but we have to ya know? Unless you _want_ to die?" she paused as I heard her shift in my direction getting a closer look at me. I could tell that she was trying to read my reactions. I remained motionless with my expression unchanging. "If that is ya wish then I won't let you have your way ok?" she stated firmly. I sighed loudly as if to signal my defeat.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on killing myself anytime soon. Nigata wouldn't forgive me if we were to meet again in the afterlife." That statement hammered home the memories of my brief time with Akai-san. I sighed again. "So when does fearless leader want us to go back outside?" she smiled a little thanks to my statement.

"Tomorrow, he thinks we should rest a little more before going back out there. I think he is also trying to get himself emotional ready for what we about to face when we step foot outside of this shack."

"You think we'll be ok?" I asked without even thinking… I began to hate myself for my weakness. I wanted to be strong like Yahiko but my natural emotions kept burning there way to the top showing the coward that I was.

"I...I don't know… but we'll figure something out." She said in a solemn tone.

"Ya guys done crying yet?" Yahiko asked in a sarcastic tone as he burst through the door. Konan sighed as she glared at him. "Ya know I was just playing." he stated trying to defend himself.

"Yeah… sure…" Konan said as she got up and walked out of the room.

"Ya know I was joking right?" Yahiko turned to me. I merely nodded as I decided that it would be for the best to just sleep this emotional pain off. Kami knows I was going to need all the rest I could since there was no telling what was going to happen to us tomorrow.

**II**

I probably managed to get only about few hours of sleep, four at the most. The nightmares that were prancing around in my head were about our adventure for food the next day. It was never a good feeling to see your own death over five times in five different ways all in one night worth's of slumber.

"Nagato. Nagato. Nagato wake up." The blurry voice of Yahiko was quickly followed by the unnecessary shaking of my body violently snatching me back into the real world.

"Yeah…" I spoke up as I pushed him off of me. "What do you want?"

"I think it's best if we leave now before the sun rise." I stared up at him for a second before groaning a little. "Come on… I think it'll also safer for us to move around before everyone that could hurt us wake up too." he continued.

"I said yeah…" I dragged out in a grunt.

"Ya getting up right?" I sighed as this time I rose up and began to grab my shirt. As my sight slowly returned to me I realized that Konan was not with him.

"Where's Konan?"

"In her room. I decided to wake you up first since you was the first to fall asleep."

"Doesn't mean that I actually got any rest." I stated under my voice.

"Say what?"

"Nothing…"

The morning air was damp from the heavy monsoon last night. Surprisingly it wasn't raining when we snuck out of the shack making sure no one saw us. I began to think that maybe we would actually make it out of this ok.

Yahiko lead us all the way back to the village, we were almost in a single filed line with me bringing up the rear. We moved in a very slow pace trying to remain as quiet as possible, even though to a trained shinobi we were probably as loud as a marching band.

Yahiko came up with the idea that the first place we should hit up would be the marketplace of the village. Hopefully some of the food would still be in good enough shape for us to bring back with us.

As we stepped passed the open gates that horrible stench of the dead greeted us. My empty stomach began to twist and swirl like a whirlpool as it felt like my insides were going to spill out from my mouth.

I glanced over at Konan and noticed that she wasn't fairing any better, but Yahiko seemed to be find walking around with that disgusting odor floating in full force.

The streets were littered with the dead bodies of the villagers, Iwa-nin and what looked like a few Konoha-nin as well.

"Konoha?" Yahiko asked in way to let us know that he was caught off guard by the new turn of events.

"Konoha?" Konan asked curious about what he was talking back.

"It's a shinobi village like Iwa. There are shinobi from that village dead here now too."

"You think they attacked the village too?" Konan asked.

"What village?" I asked causing both of my companions to jerk around and stare at me dumbfounded. "Thanks to this _war_ the _village _was killed along with it's people. What we have here is a shinobi encampment." I stated as if it was not only fact but also law.

Yahiko was speechless as Konan held her head down and turned away.

"Why ya got to be so grim?" Yahiko asked as he glowered at me.

"Grim…but true." I affirmed. Yahiko looked like he wanted to say something but he too turn his back to me and began to walk toward our destination.

When we reached the marketplace, we received the third shock of the day. It was literally crawling with survivors scrambling around for whatever was left to salvage. Several of the adults we actually recognize as some of our friends parents, even teachers were here as well.

At first I felt a great amount of relief thinking that maybe we could rebuild this village back to way it was. But when my eyes met with one of the other's I realized something that nearly scared me to death. What I saw through that person eyes wasn't that of a person – they were still human in all rights but what was inside wasn't. The normal warm glow of life that you could see in a human's eyes was no longer there. Their orbs' were lifeless, barren, untrusting, and most importantly highly dangerous.

Konan started to run toward one of them that she recognized as her neighbor but I grabbed her.

"What wrong Nagato?"

"Don't… something isn't right about the way they are acting." I stated as my eyes stayed locked with the man that was standing a few yards in front of us.

"He's right. These guys look like they would rather us die than share what little food they have left." Yahiko said as he too was watching the same man as I was.

"What's wrong with you guys? They are the same as us, they're survivors."

"No… they're not survivors, look closer." I stated.

"Unlike us, they were forced to sleep in this hellhole for the pass four days with those blood thirsty shinobi lurking around every corner. The paranoia drove them all insane." Yahiko said building off what I was talking about.

"How can you guys say such things about them."

"Hey boy!" the man that Yahiko and me was staring at yelled as he began to stalk toward us. "You found something didn't ya? Give it to me right now!" he demanded, as his stalk became a canter.

"We didn't find anything!" Yahiko yelled back as he tensed up.

"Don't lie to me boy. I know ya found something!" he yelled as lunged at us. I pushed Konan back making sure that she would be able to get away when in the corner of my eye I saw Yahiko slam something hard against the man's jaw creating a eerie _crack_ sound as the man's jaw went limp and blood began to pour from his mouth.

"That was scary." Yahiko said as he dropped the large rock that he had grabbed when the man began to charge at us. From the look on his face I could tell that he hadn't expected that man to attack us or for him to hit him with the rock. "Ya guys ok?" he asked as he glanced back at us. I merely nodded as Konan just stared at the unconscious body as if it had grown a second head.

"W-w-why did he run at us?" Konan asked, as her voice seemed to return to her.

"I told ya these guys aren't the same as us. They are scavengers trying to scrounge up what they need without having anyone taking it from them. There is no telling what happened to them here during those four days we were absent." Yahiko stated as he began to search the man's pockets for anything.

"What are you doing Yahiko?" Konan demanded.

"Hey… he may have something we need on him right now. There is no telling what will happen when we get close to the food supply." We all glanced over at a cart of fish that was being fought over by five or six people.

"This is madness…" Konan said as she returned to her feet.

"We should hurry up and get what we need before we are attacked again." I said as I tried not to watch such a primitive scene. It was as if time had reversed itself thanks to this war. I knew everybody would have different reaction to the pain but to see the low end of the spectrum was a real eye opener.

Yahiko found a knife, a can opener, and a couple of dark candy bars that tasted like paper – even in our starving states. We all knew that this wasn't going to be enough to get us through the week, let alone the day, and we didn't want to be around when the man woke up.

"Ok, here's the plan." Yahiko began to speak. "See that shop over there?" he pointed to the old meat shop where we used to buy our sandwiches from for lunch during school. "On three me and Nagato will rush in there and grab what ever we can and get the hell out of there."

"What about me?" Konan asked.

"Ya stay here and guard the key. Without it we will not be able to get back to the shack."

"But I don't want to be by myself."

"Both me and Nagato can run about the same speed so we would have a better chance of getting in and out together than if you came with us."

"But…"

"Don't worry, we'll make it."

"…You better… I don't know what I'll do if I lose any one of you." A silent tear traveled down her cheek as she glared at us letting us know that she was seriously worried about our safety.

"Ok… ready Nagato?" Yahiko asked already knowing my answer.

"No…"

"Oh well, **three**!" he yelled as we both charged toward the shop. The looks we were garnering began to give me the slight feeling that this was not going to work.

When we pushed through the shop's door there were already several people in the shop ravaging through everything. Yahiko dashed passed them and I had no other choice but to follow him until we ended up in the freezer. To my surprise there was still a few bags of sandwich meat there. We quickly swooped up the meat but as we did so we also had managed to catch the attention of two women who now stood in front of us.

"Who said you could come in here and take what you want?" the older woman of the pair said as she towered over us.

"The same person who gave ya permission." Yahiko replied in a taunting voice. I wanted to hit him for that remark. He was only making the situation worst with his pointless banter.

"Such rude children. We should teach them to respect their elders Ayani-nee-san." The younger woman stated who looked to be in her early twenties. She looked like she would have been very pretty if it wasn't for the many bruises that her face bored. Her tan skin was painted with blotches of purple and black all over telling the poignant story of what had happened to her during those nights. Her older sister also wore the same bruises causing me to instantly think of what Konan meant by _worst_.

"Ya'll have to earn my respect before I give it. It ain't free ya know ya old hags."

"That's enough Yahiko." I said trying to stop him from going to far but it look like the damage was already done. Though the odds of them attacking us even if he didn't say anything was probably over ninety percent it still didn't help with him running his mouth.

The older woman was the first to react as she grabbed at Yahiko who pushed her arm away and slapped her against the face with the bag of meat he had in his hand. The younger one charged at me but unlike Yahiko, I chose not to attack but to dodge. I didn't have the courage he had to risk my life enough to fight her off. I just wanted to run, run as far as way as I could. Not only from that shop but also from everything.

Thanks to Yahiko successful attack, a gap was created between the women. I unconsciously dashed through it and out of the shop. It wasn't until I saw Konan's shock face that I realized that I had left Yahiko back in there – at least that was what I thought until I noticed that he was running right beside me with a huge smile on his face.

"Run Konan! We did it!" he cheered as we dashed passed her. It only took her about half a second to register what was going on before she too began to chased after us.

As we made it back into the shack, Konan quickly locked the door behind us as she collapsed to the floor allowing her body to gain the needed rest that her legs had been screaming for since we the left the village. We had made a mad dash all the way home not even bothering to look behind us to see if anyone had bothered to chase after us.

"We hit the jackpot this time!" Yahiko cheered as he held up his bag. I held up my bag as well as I too enjoy the success of our mission. It was a small victory but it did wonders for our morale. That was one of the few times that all three of us held a smile on our face since the massacre. But these times would prove to be rare and far apart.

---

**Closing Notes: For those of you, who are also reading my story **_**Vanished Without A Trace**_**, expect an update for it out later today. I want to get one last update for it too before the New Year bell rings. Hopefully I'll be able to succeed in my small goal.**


	3. 3rd Itami: Ominous Vibes

**Author's Note: What up once again. Not much to say here but thanks for taking the time to read. Even if the story is going a lot slower (review wise) than I had originally planned it I still am going to push out regular updates for it. Surprisingly the challenge to create the back-story for Pain while staying within the cannon is exciting me to the point where I am actually enjoying writing this more than my other stores. **

**Well I hope you enjoy this chapter as well and looking forward to all your reviews. **

**Eminence****  
**_A Requiem of Pain  
_3rd Itami: Ominous Vibes

Despite the darkness when we were forced to live in, we had someone managed to find a light – a very dim light but a light strong enough to give us hope for the future. We had recovered enough food to get us by for not only several days but for at least two to three weeks if we were smart with our choices; that success proved to be much, much, much more than just a means to acquire food but also served as the catalyst for our will to survive.

The boisterous voices telling me to end it with me own hands had finally managed to quiet down to a point where I could finally relax a little. I was also able to witness one of Konan's smiles, which were breathtakingly beautiful when I was lucky enough to see them.

This was the one positive point since the war but like all good things that I had managed to acquire in my life after the initial attack, it wouldn't last for much longer.

When the second week crept by, our food supply began to thin to a point where we all were afraid to eat any more. Somewhere down the line we had forgot all about making this last as long as possible. Growling spoiled stomachs had took over our senses on several occasions leaving us with a very limited supply left.

This all left us with one choice, a choice that only one of us was looking forward to. Even though we had succeeded in securing food for us during that last run, my heart had taking a huge hit while we were out there. I no longer wanted to leave the comfortable and _safe _surroundings of the shack, regardless of the reason that required to me to leave. And I could tell that Konan felt the same way as me too.

Yahiko on the other hand was a complete different story. The adrenaline rush he had gain during our run for food had gave him a new sensation that he had never felt before. This was a high that he began to crave as he began to urge us to go back out for a second run, even if we didn't need to make the run since we already had enough.

Throughout the time after the first run, on many occasions, he pushed us to accompany him again but the need wasn't there, which meant our courage wasn't there either. We could tell how frustrated he was with our stubbornness but there was no way in hell we were going to go back out there unless it was absolutely necessary. But now was different, with the obvious fact that our supplies were dwindling, his words began to weight heavier and heavier on our minds.

On the 20th day, we no longer could resist his charge to make a second run. Our food was only going to last us another day or two and it was wearing at our conscious with each bite we took of our food. The look on Yahiko's face told us how he already knew this would happen, almost as if he had planned all of this from the beginning. Konan and me didn't questioning him though since he actually ate less than we did.

So it was finally decided, two days from now – Monday – we were going to make a second trip to the village to scrounge up more food and supplies to help keep us alive. I was not looking forward to this at all and the following nights became sleepless nights for me, not to say that I got much sleep during the previous nights anyway.

The night before the second run, I couldn't get even a second of sleep just like the previous time we ventured out of our safe zone to scrounge up food.

As I lied there I felt a slight rustle at the foot of my mat. It was pitch black so I couldn't make out what it was so I quickly pulled back my comfort as my heart began to pound against my ribcage.

"Gomen…" I heard Konan say, as it seemed that I had also startled her as well.

"Don't worry about it… what wrong, can't sleep either."

"Yeah. Plus I need to talk to you about…" she paused as I heard her body shift a little. I imagined that she was looking over in Yahiko's direction.

"Outside then."

"Ok."

It took a few seconds to gain my bearings in the dark but as my eyes finally began to adjust to the absence of light I caught a glimpse of Konan's face. She had heavy bags on her bloodshot eyes, she looked exhausted, and her outer appearance somewhat disheveled. She had been crying.

When we made it to the living room she was the first to sit down on the couch, the expression on face was one of panic and hopelessness.

"Did you have a bad dream?" I asked trying to decipher the reason for her current appearance.

"No… I wish…" she said as she began to fondle with a sheet of paper, folding it in several places, making a variant of life like shapes in process. Origami had become sort of an escape for stress but it obviously wasn't working for her right now. "I have a very bad feeling about tomorrow."

"You're just nervous, we all are. Don't try to think to much about it, that's what I do."

"No… that's what I thought at first too but things just don't feel right. I felt something, something vile, something foreign, and it made me sick to the stomach. I actually threw up before I decided that I had to talk to someone, I had to talk to you."

"I…I…I don't understand."

"We need to talk Yahiko out of this trip tomorrow. I don't care about the next day or the day after that but not tomorrow."

"What are you saying?"

"I told ya that I don't know. Something just doesn't feel right about this at all. I've never felt like this before in my life, and that includes the day that we were attacked."

I froze for a second trying to contemplate the meaning for all of this. I'd never seen Konan freak out this much before. I didn't understand where all of this was coming from. I wanted to tell her that it would be all right but her vibes had also left a very eerie feeing in my gut as well.

I finally realized that I had been standing up the entire time and allowed myself to take a well-needed seat. My knees were beginning to buckle from the added stress and fear that Konan had instilled in me.

"When did you first get this feeling?"

"Right when we all went to sleep. There was some kind of wave."

"Wave?"

"I don't know… it just felt like it started on my right side and flew over me like a big storm."

"Then how come I didn't feel it too?"

"I told ya that I don't know. Maybe it's just me feeling this but this wasn't a dream or nervousness. This felt like death…"

"Death?"

"Yeah. It felt like I was dying but it quickly passed over me. But then the strange feelings started to hit me and could no longer take this by myself. I don't care what we do, but I do not want to go out _there_ tomorrow!" she yelled which surprised me a little.

I stared at her trying my hardest to search for the right words to say but nothing came to mind. Her gaze was locked with my mines but neither of us spoke. It wasn't until my bedroom door open revealing a zombie-like Yahiko growling at us that we snapped out of our trance.

"Why the hell are you yelling so early in the morning?" he demanded.

"We shouldn't go out tomorrow Yahiko." Konan pleading causing his eyes to pop open as he sense the emergency in her tone.

"What happened?!" he cried as he began to franticly scan the room as if an enemy had broke in our shack.

"Nothing… I have a _very_ bad feeling about tomorrow."

"Feeling?"

"Yeah."

"Come on… you're just scared and that's all."

"I don't think it's just that Yahiko." I said trying to defend Konan.

"Not you _too_." he sighed as he turned his back.

"We already decided that we needed to do this in order to survive."

"I know that, all I'm asking is that we don't do this tomorrow. We can always wait for another day." Konan said.

"And what will happen when we wait for that day to come? Will you get these _feelings_ again?"

"I… don't know."

"Exactly, you don't know if these feelings are because something bad going to happen or because you're freaked because you know what could happen out there." He stated in a stern voice.

"I think we should not go tomorrow too. If she feels like this the next time then I will back you up but for now I don't want to do this with her feeling this way. This could be some sort of premonition about tomorrow. We are right in the middle of a war, in an area where neither side cares rather we are allow or not."

"This is getting dumb. We already decided this so changing our minds will only make it harder for us to decide on this later."

"Fine, then you go without us." I firmly stated as I stood up as to show how serious I was. This was my very first time standing up to him, or anyone for that matter but I didn't like seeing Konan acting this way. I still felt bitter for the lost of Nigata and everyday I saw my late sister in Konan more and more.

"Say what?" Yahiko asked in a surprised tone as he slowly turned around to face me.

I instantly felt like backing down but I knew I needed to do this. Not just for Konan but for myself too; if we kept letting him run things then our say in matters like this will become smaller and smaller.

"I said to go by yourself if you refuse to listen to us." I restated firmly as I clenched my fist trying to hold my ground.

Konan quickly leaped up as if she to finally found the courage stand and glared at Yahiko. He glared back at us for a second before yawning out loud.

"I get it, I get it. We won't go tomorrow ok, happy?"

"Arigatou." Konan said as I felt an immense of stress lift off of her shoulders.

I glanced over at her and noticed that she was now wearing a worried expression. It seemed that the chance that Yahiko and me were on the verge of fighting for her sake seemed to shake her a little.

"It's ok now." I said trying to calm her down a little.

She smiled a little before returning to her room. I sighed as I started to go back to the room to sleep but ran into Yahiko.

"I'm surprised ya had the balls to stand up to me Nagato?"

"Huh?"

"Nothing…" he said as he put out the candle and leaped back on his mat.

I didn't quite know how to react to that but I decided that that was something better left for day break since the lack of sleep was finally started to get the better of me. With our second return to the outside world postponed, I felt most of the stress wash off of me like a waterfall.

**II**

The next day was probably one of the most annoying days in the shack yet. It was obvious that Yahiko really wanted to go out there and had his heart sat on it. And with each opportunity he got he made sure we knew how he felt about the situation.

Despite his grumpy attitude, I didn't allow it to get to my that much since this also mark the first time in my life that I actually dug in and stood my ground. In a way it was a very small victory for me but I was open to _any_ type of victory during these days.

Konan looked a little bit better than last night. She still looked disheveled but I think that had more to do with the lack of sleep and not the strange feelings she was having last night.

"Are you feeling any better?" I decided to ask just to make sure.

"Yeah, thanks to you."

"Thanks to me?"

"Yeah, because you stood up for me even if you didn't believe me."

"It wasn't that I didn't believe you. It was just that I didn't like seeing you like that. It was kind of scary."

"Thanks anyway, it really helped out a lot."

"Good."

"You better not start complaining tomorrow like ya did last night." Yahiko chimed in as he took a bite from his sandwich.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Why are you in such a hurry to go out there anyway Yahiko?" I asked.

"Because we need to replenish our food supply."

"We don't even know if there anymore food out there and it feels like you are doing this for other reasons besides the obvious."

"We won't know if the food is gone unless we go see for ourselves and what do ya mean by _other reasons_?"

"I don't know, it just feels like you are actually enjoying this." I questions as I glanced over at his face trying to judge his reaction to this.

He snorted loudly as he took another bite before staring back at me as if something had dawned on him.

"Don't tell me you actually meant that?"

"Well… yeah. I mean you are always talking about going back out there when Konan and me rather not have to think about it unless we absolutely have to."

"See, that ya problem."

"My problem? What is?"

"You guys think this place will stay safe for the rest of our lives. To me, that lie is scarier than going back out there. I don't know about you guys but I don't plan on spending the rest of my life locked down by this tiny little shack hidden from the world."

"It's a hidden for good reason."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that, but I for one hate this."

"It's not like we don't hate this too."

"Then you should understand my point too. We are to cut off from the world right now. There is no telling if a relief party has came or all the foreign shinobi have left the area and the people are in the process of rebuilding."

"And we also don't know if it is a bloodbath out there either. For all we know, there could be nothing left at all out there."

"And wouldn't you want to find out which truth is indeed the _truth_. Just by staying locked up in here, we won't know what the hell is going on out there which I think isn't a good thing at all. Yeah, there could be bad things out there still but there also could be good things too!"

I started to fight back but I found my words missing from me at the moment. Deep down inside I knew he was right. It wasn't healthy to stay up in here and pretend like nothing was going to happen to us as long as we stay hidden. But that still didn't explain why he always pushed us so much to go outside.

"But the expression on your face was… different Yahiko." Konan added as we both looked at her.

"Different? What do you mean different?"

"When we got back from the first time we got food, of course we all were excited but you changed after that. It was almost like you began to crave that excitement and tried to push that on us."

"What are you talking about?"

"Every time you mention the possibility of us having to go back out there; you get this strange glint in your eyes that is impossible to hide. Especially from us, the closest people you have left."

"Glint…? Do you see this too Nagato?"

I nodded my answer as I just stared at him.

"Well… maybe I do enjoy it a _little _but not because I think it's exciting. I think it has more to do with me actually being able to do _something_. Right now I feel so… so powerless. I watched our village get destroyed, the people we know murdered, yet all I could do was run."

"We all feel that way Yahiko but what could we do but run?" Konan said trying to comfort him.

"No, that's not good enough. Sometimes I wish that I had died out there instead of being force to watch everything from the side with my hands cuff to the ground."

"You… you don't mean that?" Konan asked.

"Sometimes… I wonder." He said as he rose up from the table and headed toward our room. I sighed out loud as I sat down in the chair and began to rub my temples. This was definitely too much for a young teenager to have to handle.

**III**

Finally, the day had arrived; Konan had kept her part of the agreement and didn't complain even a bit about having to go back out there. I tried to talk to her earlier but she only told me that she was fine. I didn't know if this was true or if she was just trying to conceal what she really felt.

Me, my stomach was spinning like a whirlpool. I wasn't looking forward to having to go through the same things we had to go through last time. But once we reached the village I instantly realized that we wouldn't have to worry about that _anymore_.

The only thing that was left of the village was a segment entry gate and few buildings that could probably withstand a level four hurricane. Smoke was thick in the atmosphere from fires that had been set during the previous night from another attack. It seemed that whoever was doing the attacking didn't feel that the village was important enough to keep standing when it came to defeating their enemies.

"Wh-h-hat happened?" Konan asked as he eyes were nearly touching her hairline.

"Could this be what you was feeling the other night?" I asked as I tried to figure out what exactly happened.

"What the hell is this?" Yahiko asked as he dropped to his knees and punched the ground. "Now what the hell are we going to do about food huh?" he asked as he once again threw another punch against the ground.

I started to say something but the sound of footsteps in the distance caught my attention.

"We got to run Yahiko." I said as I grabbed his shoulder.

"Go ahead, I don't care anymore."

"What?"

"Don't be that way Yahiko. We can still figure out something else." Konan pleaded but he shrugged both of us off.

"I'm going to find out if these guys are good or bad."

"But what if they are bad?"

"Then I die." He stated like it was just as simple as that. "Hide behind the gate, if they do kill me then hide there until you think the coast is clear and head back to the shack."

"But…" Konan tried to say but he shook his head as he stood up.

"You're not going to argue with me this time. I will hit you guys if you don't listen to me."

"But…"

"Just leave damnit!" he shouted as he pushed us both.

I felt my body move own its own as I grabbed Konan and hid behind the gate. Several minutes later, three shinobi appeared in the far distance. They appeared to be eating something. I watched as Yahiko slowly walked up to them and began to exchange words with them.

I glanced over at Konan and noticed that she was shaking uncontrollably. Suddenly we heard Yahiko voice call out to us saying the last thing we expected.

"Hey Nagato, Konan, come out! He's not a bad guy!"

---  
**Closing Notes: And now we will intermix with some of the stuff from the manga. For those of you who also fans of my **_**Vanished Without a Trace**_**, expect an update for that before Sunday. Thanks again for reading!**


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